End the unfairness of official bilingualism. Stop wasting our tax dollars.

05 October 2017

Francophone Affairs - Full fledged ministry

The Francophones in Ontario haven't got the numbers but they sure have a lot of political clout! With just over 4% of the population, they now have a full-fledged ministry with an undeclared amount of money to spend & who knows how much power to wield. When P.E. Trudeau first started on this mission to take power back from the British & return it to the French, he was very clever. First he had to convince Canadians that the conquered French should be given a voice so he persuaded Parliament to pass the Official Languages Act in 1969 & incorporated it into the 1982 Constitution. When challenged as to why he would elevate a minority regional language into equal status with the majority language spoken by the Most of Canada, he had this to say:

Public affairs. On the first episode of his popular weekday morning TV talk show, Jack Webster speaks with Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau in a taped interview.

What he said succeeded in fooling gullible Canadians who were very willing to believe him because he promised them a "kinder & gentler" Canada with lots of Socialist goodies. We know that he didn't like the British & his insult to the Queen will never be forgotten. Was it a deliberate lie when he said that the OLA was only meant for the French to be able to use French in Quebec, not to impose French on the whole of Canada? The same lie that OB would only apply "where numbers warrant", an undefined proportion, open to interpretation by those who saw this as a great opportunity for French to dominate. Many people (even politicians who know the truth) pooh-poohed this as merely "conspiracy" with NO basis. Anyone paying attention can see quite clearly that the OLA has been strengthened several times since its inception. Using Orders in Council (which are never debated in the House), the "Right to work in the language of choice" &

the "Right to be supervised in the language of choice" have made the situation even more advantageous for the French-speakers. French-speakers are now over-represented in the Federal govt. & with the new French Language Ministry in Ontario, the same will happen in this province if it hasn't already happened.

As we all know, half a century of this conspiracy has resulted in a Canada dominated by the French with Quebec totally in control.

Kim McConnell

"Peter Graefe, a political scientist from McMaster University, sees the announcement as a strategic electoral decision. (Radio-Canada)"

Good to see someone noticing this as just a political vote ploy. The last census showed Ontario has just 40,040 people with French only, but 326,935 with neither English or French.

The creation of a stand-alone ministry of francophone affairs drew mixed reactions from political pundits and opposition parties Monday after Premier Kathleen Wynne details of a mini shuffle in her cabinet.

The premier announced the Office of Francophone Affairs Ontario will now be a full-fledged ministry.

It was one of the details announced at a press conference, including Glen Murray's departure from his post as environment minister to pursue a position with the Pembina Institute, an environmental think-tank.

Marie-France Lalonde was already responsible for francophone affairs and will now become the minister of the file, the premier said. The Ottawa-Orléans MPP also continues as Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services.

Her new ministry will not have a supplementary budget at this time, Lalonde said.

"The creation of an autonomous department gives even greater weight to the fact that the Ontario government recognizes that the francophone population, its culture and its language, are a dynamic part of life in Ontario," Lalonde said.

Tactic to court francophone voters

Peter Graefe, a political scientist at McMaster University in Hamilton, said he views the announcement as a way for the Liberals to retain their electorate with less than a year left until the provincial election, while Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown, too, is trying to court francophone voters.

"There is no greater capacity to broaden the range of services or projects simply because it is a ministry," Graefe said.

Brown called the new ministry a "distraction tactic" and said he expected more concrete action for the Franco-Ontarian community.

Peter Graefe, a political scientist from McMaster University, sees the announcement as a strategic electoral decision. (Radio-Canada)

The NDP were also critical of Monday's announcement. The party's spokesperson for francophone affairs, France Gélinas, said the announcement should have included details on additional funding.

"[That means] more administration, not more resources to do things on the ground. I do not think we're going in the right direction," Gélinas said.

She acknowledged, however, that a standalone ministry is a "small victory for francophones in Ontario," but added time will tell if it really advances francophone issues, pointing to examples such as the Franco-Ontarian university and the reform to the French Language Services Act.

Francophone organizations applaud new ministry

The association canadienne-française de l'Ontario, in the Windsor-Essex-Chatham-Kent region, welcomed the news Monday morning. The association's president, Elizabeth Brito, said southwestern Ontario is still fighting for services it deems essential for francophones.

"We have a history of fighting to be able to educate ourselves in French," Brito said. "But at the health and the legal level, it is equally important. There are still gaps. We need health professionals and lawyers who speak French to help francophones in their daily lives."

Other organizations, including the réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité (RDÉE) and l'assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario (AFO), also applauded the creation of the new ministry.

Lalonde said Monday the French university project in the Toronto region will still go ahead, but didn't confirm where there would be a building or online courses.

An announcement is expected in the coming weeks, she said.

With files from Radio-Canada

The last census showed Ontario has just 40,040 people with French only, but 326,935 with neither English or French.